Up to 600 euros can be deducted from taxes - but with the home office flat rate, many employees get nothing
Created: 01/24/2022, 08:28
By: Anne Hund
The information is given in Appendix N of the tax return.
© Hans-Jürgen Wiedl/dpa (symbol image)
The traffic light wants to extend the home office flat rate until the end of 2022.
According to the current regulation, a maximum of 600 euros per year can be set, combined with a few hurdles.
SPD, Greens and FDP plan to extend the
home office flat rate
for employees until the end of 2022.
This emerges from the coalition agreement between the three parties, as the German Press Agency (dpa) reported back in November.
Those who work from
home
should therefore continue to be able to claim
the special flat rate for their
tax return .
Also read
: Five legal tricks for your tax return: It's so easy to get your money back now
Home office flat rate: 5 euros per day, maximum 600 euros per year
Who currently benefits from the home office flat rate?
Currently you can set aside 5 euros per day in the home office, and a maximum of 600 euros per year.
The home office flat rate applies to all employees - "regardless of whether they are employed or self-employed.
Also for each spouse individually,” it said in an earlier post on
Test.de.
The information is given in Appendix N of the tax return*.
Tax: Home office flat rate counts as income-related expenses
However, the sum is one of the income-related
expenses
, for which all taxpayers are charged a flat rate of 1,000 euros anyway.
This means: only those who exceed the 1,000 euro mark with their costs benefit from the special rule.
Or to put it another way: The
maximum of 600 euros
only pays off if the employee has other income-related expenses.
Because only when all professional expenses together exceed the amount of 1,000 euros per year does this have a tax-reducing effect.
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Not everyone can hope for a plus on their tax return
Most should not hope for a
plus in the tax return
, according to the experts at Stiftung Warentest. "So if you don't get more than 1,000 euros with a home office flat rate plus other advertising costs, for example for computers, mobile phones or printers, you will get nothing," reported
Test.de.
And not only that could prove to be a disadvantage for many employees in the home office. "According to calculations by the Association of Taxpayers (BdSt), for example, all those who commuted long distances to work before the pandemic, but stayed at home from April 2020, will get nothing," says an article on
Capital.de
.
"Because the flat-rate home work allowance is only available for a maximum of 120 working days a year, not more." Employees with a short commute to work are a little better off, "but the effect is limited for them too".
According to the report, the traffic light coalition plans
to extend and possibly adjust the
home office flat rate until the end of 2022 .
(ahu) *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.